Archive: May, 2012

Bob Vetrone Jr.

Thursday, May 17, 2012, 2:23 AM

One 16-point loss does not a playoff series make.
Six times the Sixers have lost playoff game by 16 or more points and come back to capture the series (below).
That includes the grand-daddy of them all, the 40-point loss to the Celtics in Game 1 of the 1982 Eastern Conference Final. They went on...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 7:40 AM

Lavoy Allen, who was a large part of the Sixers' Game 2 victory in Boston Monday, is the eighth of the 34 Temple basketball player to go on to the NBA to also play for the 76ers at some point.
Those eight with their regular season numbers for the Sixers:
Player
Class of
With Sixers ...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 2:52 AM

Some leftover Sixers tidbits from Monday's victory:
♦ This Sixers-Celtics series is first NBA postseason series ever to start with one-point decisions in both Games 1 and 2.
♦ Before 2012, the Sixers and Celtics had played just three one-point playoff games in their history.
♦...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 1:49 AM

He was sitting on 1,999 hits for eight plate appearances, but Phillies infielder Placido Polanco finally reached the two grand mark with a two-run, eighth-inning home run (right) to seal a 5-1 victory over the Astros Monday.
Polanco becomes the 17th active player (and the 269th all-time) to reach...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 1:15 AM

The Sixers, who were outscored at the foul line by their opponents to the tune of 128 points during the regular season, lead all playoff teams with 48 more free throws made than their foes.
Below are the free throws made by each playoff team and their opponents (complete through Monday) as well as...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Monday, May 14, 2012, 3:40 AM

Jimmy Rollins, who clubbed his 38th leadoff home run Sunday (at left), has more first-inning home runs (41) in his career than in any other inning. (He hit three first-inning home runs early in his career while batting second.)
But his HR/AB percentage for the initial frame (2.80%) is second to that...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Saturday, May 12, 2012, 12:32 AM

The franchises of the Sixers (Syracuse Nationals, 1949-63) and the Boston Celtics will be meeting in the postseason for the 19th time in NBA history.
Here is a look at those regular season and playoff series results:
Season
Regular Season
Postseason
1952-53
Syracuse, 6-5
East Division...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Friday, May 11, 2012, 12:54 AM

Thursday's Sixers' win over the Chicago Bulls means that as a franchise (dating back to the Syracuse Nationals), they have now beaten 12 of their current 14 Eastern Conference opponents in the playoffs at least once. The only East teams that they have failed to knock out of the postseason have been...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 12:05 AM

In the second halves of their three wins in their first round series with the Bulls, the Sixers are shooting 53.3% on two-point field goals and holding the Bulls to 37.2%.
The Sixers have also amped up their performance from the foul line (81.4%) after intermission in those three games.
Sixers and...
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Bob Vetrone Jr.

Monday, May 7, 2012, 5:37 PM

Cole Hamels registered more HBPs vs. the Nationals (4) than he has any other team (and why do we have the feeling that number may increase before the season is over?). The Mets, Astros and Marlins are next with three each.
He hasn't hit any batter more than once in the regular season, but his two...
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Boop – who goes by Bob Vetrone Jr. when he is undercover or paying bills – has been at the Daily News since 1982, after working for five years at the Philadelphia Bulletin up to its closing. Along with helping to build the sports scoreboards most nights, he has had great input into the papers’ special sports pullouts – March Madness, Broad Street Run, Record Breakers, Greatest Moments – as well as its day-to-day, award-winning event coverage.

A 1980 graduate of North Catholic, he took some evening college courses. Those lasted right up until the first conflict with a Big 5 doubleheader.

His favorite books growing up were the NBA Guide and the Baseball Encyclopedia, which was, for all intents and purposes, the Internet before there was an Internet.

He has been immersed in sports statistics since the early 70s, when his father (long-time sports writer, broadcaster and the Daily News’ Buck The Bartender), would take him into the Bulletin newsroom overnight in the summer and let him update the Phillies statistics in a little, black spiral notebook. But things have changed tremendously in the decades since … He now uses a big, black spiral notebook.